On Feb. 13th, Christina Chen and I went to the Clinton Global Initiative University Conference in Austin, Texas.  The garden project is funded by a CGI-U Outstanding Commitment Award, but we received the grant after the conference last year, so we applied to go to this one!

Here’s a quick run-down of the events:
Feb. 13th, Fri:

5:00PM: We arrived in Austin (from Philly), took the shuttle to our hotel to drop our stuff and took a shuttle to the University of Texas campus for the opening night events!

4:00-5:30PM: “Making a Difference on Campus: A Call to Action” Opening Remarks by William Powers, President of UT.  Followed by panel discussion with:

• Bill Clinton (the former President!!),
• Paul Bell (president of Dell),
• Mambidzeni Madzivire (grad student at Mayo in biomedical engineering),
• Blake Mycoskie (founder of TOMS shoes), and Natalie Portman (yes, the actress!!!).

Unfortunately we MISSED this session (because our flight was too late!), but we heard it was great!

6:00-7:00PM: “The Future of Food” More opening remarks by Bill himself.  Then other program partipants include..

• Will Allen (Chief executive officer of Growing Power)
• Emma Clippinger (grad student, Brown U)
• Peter McPherson (president of National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges)
• Morgan Spurlock (Film Director–and the guy from Supersize Me!!!)
• Roy Steiner (director of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation)

Phew..we made it to this discussion!  This one was AMAZING.  The main message (in my opinion) was that campuses need to focus on their food production and waste.  Schools should food-waste compost (check!) and grow their own food (almost check!).  It was so awesome to hear these very smart (and famous!) people talking about how it is important to be doing what Lafayette is in fact doing!  It was an amazing feeling and I have to say it made me so proud to be a part of this project. 😀

7:30-9:30: Social Reception.  Students, faculty, and everyone attending the conference had dinner and (very yummy) desserts and mingled.

Sat. Feb. 14th: (Happy V-day!)

9:00-10:00AM: Plenary Session “Turning Economic Obstacles into Opportunity”

• Paul Begala (president of Hat Creek Enterprises)
• Scott Cowen (president of Tulane U)
• Carlo DiMarco (VP, University relations and online strategy, mtvU)
• John Dorsey (co-founder, faceAIDS)
• Margaret McKenna (president of the Walmart Foundation)
• Zainab Salbi (president and chief exec officer of Women for Women International)

Well, this one was interesting and quite timely with the current state of the economy.  It was quite interesting to hear from the pres. of Walmart, especially since they fund much of the Commitment Awards given.

10:30-12:00PM: “Working Sessions”!  During this time, students and faculty were divided into sessions of their personal interests.  Christina and I went to separate ones.  I went to the Energy and Climate Change one and Christina attended the Global Health Session.   It was a great time to talk with other students, faculty, university presidents (!), and Clinton Global U organizers on a personal level.

12:30-2:00PM: Lunchtime Meetups and such: time for everyone to mingle and talk about their commitments.

2:30-4:00PM: “Skill Session: Putting your Commitment to Action”

4:30-5:30PM: CGI-U Exchange: more mingle time to talk about commitments and network!

6:00-7:00PM: Summation and Closing Address by Bill Clinton.  and panel speakers:

• Nnamdi Asomugha (Oakland Raiders Quaterback)
• Matthew McConaughey (Yes, the actor!!!! and my valentine hah)
• Marie Tillman (chairman of the board of the Pat Tillman Foundation)

This panel challenged the audience to continue our commitments and take what we learned over the past two days and apply it to the real world.  Hmm.. well, I think we’re on the right track, right? 🙂

7:30-9:30PM: Dinner Reception.  This was our last chance to really mingle.  It was so great to talk to inspiring students from all over the world and hear their commitments.  After dinner, there was a comedian..

• John Oliver (Yes, from the Daily Show with John Stewart!!!)

He was HILARIOUS.  He commented on how the audience of CGI-U students were more like his parents than any college group he’d performed for on a Saturday night..hahaha, so true.

Feb. 15th, Sunday:

9:00-1:00PM: Service Project.  CGI-U students participated in various service projects around the Austin area.  Christina and I worked on cleaning a local creek (which really needed cleaning!!).  It was lots of fun and one last chance to see our fellow comittment-makers!

The conference in review:

It was an AMAZING experience all together.  I’m really glad Christina and I had the opportunity to attend.  Talking with other students about our gardening and composting projects seemed to really inspire others.  We learned from other students about their commitments and ways to improve our own campus.  One student named Jared worked with the UT campus to donate wasted food to local food kitchens.  This is something we could definately work on!

Thank you to the Lafayette ARC, Prof. Mylon, Brandes, Kortyna, Kney, and student Mike Handzo for making our trip possible!!

Jenn

PS. Here’s a Lafayette new’s story about the conference!